Once Upon a Clock Tick
by the-Mad-Majesty-of-Muchness
Summary: The curse is broken, but Ella Greene has a problem: She didn't get her memories back, and neither did her fiancé Adam. And what's this weird paper doing in her bag? And since when can she do magic? Does Gretchen Everhart have anything to do with things? Hopefully Emma and Henry can help them figure things out and get their memories back...


**AN: Here it is, everyone, that Wicked/OUAT crossover I promised! This is a collaboration with Katherine the Fabulous, so I can't take all the credit here, but, anyway, yeah. Now, before we get started, you should know that this takes place in the era of Operation Cobra, and as you're about to read, it starts on the day the curse gets broken, so the events in this story are happening somewhere between the events of Season One and Season Two of OUAT. **

**Also, you'll probably be able to guess right away just from her name who Ella is, and as for Adam, well, either you'll know by his appearance, or you'll figure it out based on his connections to Ella and/or the name of his store, but you WON'T find out from me, because I don't want to spoil the story, so TROLOLOLOLOL! XD**

**Anyway, enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING AND DENY EVERYTHING!**

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The bell above the door tinkled as Ella Greene walked into Emerald Records, and the young man behind the counter looked up, flashing a warm smile when he saw who it was. He came around to greet her, and as Adam McGuire stepped closer, Ella pulled him in for a kiss. "How has your day been?" she asked.

"Pretty good," Adam said. "I finished transferring all your music and pictures and contacts onto your new phone. Even managed to preserve all your playlists."

"Oh, Adam, that's great! Thank you so much, I really appreciate it."  
"No problem, happy to be of service. So listen, I was thinking—"

He cut off suddenly with a gasp, his pale eyes going wide. Ella felt it, too; a strange sort of rumbling in her gut, a complete blank space in her mind. Then, out of nowhere, that space was filled with a single memory. A snapshot of—of Adam? She remembered tears streaming down his face, but he was smiling, so they must have been happy tears, and he was breathing heavily, and his brown hair was falling in his face and where ever they were, it was dark with streaks of pale light here and there, and shadows were falling across his face, but his ice blue eyes shone brightly in the darkness. But his name wasn't Adam. It was—It was—Damn it. She couldn't remember. And there was a curse! And magic was real! And—

She doubled over, one hand instinctively flying to her pregnant stomach as the flood of strange revelations overwhelmed her. When she recovered, Adam was looking at her with his brow knitted together and confusion written all over his face. Wordlessly, he grabbed Ella's hand, and they hurried out onto the street together. Everyone else seemed to have the same idea, because masses were swarming the block, and, if they had to guess, every other block, too.

Ella looked at her hand linked with Adam's and quickly let go. In the sudden onslaught of recollections, she realized that her fiancé was not actually her fiancé. Adam shot her a confused look, until a look of realization washed over his face, and he glanced away awkwardly. Unfortunately, nobody else seemed to be having this problem, as it appeared that everyone was rushing to embrace what were presumably loved ones in light of their newfound memories.

"Regina will know what to do," Ella said. Being Regina's secretary, Ella liked to believe she was, if nothing else, at least marginally closer to the mayor than other people, except, of course, for Regina's son Henry. Having made this statement, she grabbed Adam's hand and hurried down the street, weaving in and out through the crowd of people. When they arrived at Regina's office, a growing crowd had already formed, and Ella fought through them, keeping a grip on Adam's hand the entire time, using her personal key to unlock the door when they got to it, then quickly locking it again when she and Adam were both inside. They went upstairs, but found only an empty office.

"Where is she?" Adam asked.  
"I don't know," Ella replied.

"Um, Ella? You might wanna look outside..."

Ella turned towards the window and gasped. There was a huge cloud of purple fog rolling towards the bulding. As she and Adam stood at the window and watched, it engulfed everything in sight, then was gone within mere minutes. "Well that was weird," Adam said. Ella frowned.

"I feel...strange," she said. Adam looked at her.  
"Strange how?" he asked.

"I don't know, just...strange."  
"Ella, your hand is on fire!"

"What? Holy—!"

Just as Adam had said, one of Ella's hands was on fire. As he instinctively jumped back, Ella shook her hand several times, and then the fire was suddenly gone, without even the scent of smoke to indicate it had ever existed in the first place. Ella and Adam looked at each other, confusion written across both their faces.

"I didn't even feel any heat," Ella said.  
"That—That's not natural," Adam replied.  
"I think...I think it might've been magic."  
"...Okay, we _really _need to find Regina, where else would she be?"

"I don't know, I...At home, maybe?"  
"Then what the hell are we waiting for, let's go!"

They rushed out of the office and down the stairs, moving down the street as quickly as they could manage without seeming conspicuous to anyone. Luckily, though, everyone was too distracted to really be paying either one of them much attention. When they got to Regina's house, they hurried up the front walk, and Ella knocked on the door.

"Regina? Regina, if you're there, please open up, it's Ella, I need to talk to you."

She could hear muffled footsteps, then the door opened to reveal Regina with a surprised look on her face. "Ella?" she said. "What are you doing here? And why is Adam with you?"

"We need to talk," Ella said, "it's kind of an emergency."

Regina studied the look on the other woman's face, glanced at Adam, back at Ella, then sighed. "Alright, come in," she said, opening the door wider and stepping to the side in order to allow them in before closing the door.

"What's going on?" Regina asked.  
"We know about the curse," Adam said.  
Regina rolled her eyes. "Yes, I figured as much," she said. "Is that all?"

"I think I can do magic," Ella told her. Regina looked at her in confusion.

"I beg your pardon?" she said.  
"We went to your office to look for you, and—that purple fog that came through the town. Right after it was gone, my hand was on fire, but I didn't even feel any warmth. I didn't even realize until Adam pointed it out, and—"

"Who are we?" Adam interrupted. Regina frowned.  
"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"We're not actually engaged," Ella said, "we know that. But we don't know who we are. Not like everyone else seems to. We thought you might be able to tell us. Oh, and by the way, I wouldn't go to your office for a while if I were you. Everyone's gathered outside of it looking for you."

"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind," Regina said. "As to your question, I know who everyone in town is."

"So you can help us," Adam said.  
"Let me finish," Regina countered, holding a finger up. She turned to Ella. "I know who everyone is," she said, "except you two."

"How...How is that possible?"  
"I don't know. I'm just as baffled by it as you are. I can tell you who Ashley Boyd is, Archie Hopper, Mary Margaret Blanchard, David Nolan, Mr. Gold, Ruby and her grandmother, Leroy, Astrid and Mother Superior, even Dr. Whale, and he's from a completely different realm than the Enchanted Forest. Everyone. Except you and Adam. I can't explain it, it's just how it is, don't ask me why. So what I'm to understand here is that neither of you regained your memories when the curse broke?"

"I had a flash of Adam's face," Ella said. "It was dark, and he was crying, but he was also smiling, and he was out of breath."  
"Yeah, I got a flash of something, too," Adam added. "I saw a woman with green skin that looked a lot like Ella in the face, and it was in some kind of clearing, and there was a lion cub in a cage."

"And I know his name wasn't Adam, but I can't remember what it was."  
"That's...strange. I designed the curse so that if and when it was ever broken, everyone would get their memories back. It should've been no different for either of you, regardless of whether you came from the Forest, or from a different realm like Dr. Whale did."

"So there's no way you can help us?" Ella asked.  
"I'm afraid not," Regina replied. She paused for a moment. "Although," she said, "I know who might be able to."

"Really?" Adam said eagerly. "Who is it?"  
"Emma and Henry," Regina told him.

"Emma?" Ella echoed. "You mean Emma Swan, the sheriff? How can she help us?"  
"Well, first of all, she's the Savior, the one who broke the curse," Regina said, "so there is that. And Henry's got that book of his...Look, it's worth a shot, that's all I'm saying. If anyone can help you, I'm willing to bet it'd be them."

"Okay, great, where can we find them?" Adam asked.  
"Probably at Mary Margaret Blanchard's house. Mary Margaret is Snow White, she and David are Emma's parents, and since she's Henry's biological mother, that also makes them his grandparents. I can write down directions for you. There's no reason for me to go with you, just explain the situation when you get over there, and I'm sure they'll help. Just trust me."

Even as she spoke, Regina was writing down directions to Mary Margaret's house on a pad of paper. When she finished, she tore the sheet off and handed it to Ella. "Good luck," she said. "Let me know how things go."

"Thank you, Regina," Ella said, "we really appreciate it."

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**Kind of an awkward place to end the chapter, I know, but...yeah. Anyway, let me know what you think so Kat and I can work on improving stuff, and I hope you enjoy the story so far! :)**


End file.
